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When did you toilet train your child?

I have two younger children that are not toilet trained yet. The baby is too young, and my youngest daughter does not seem interested. I was reading this article about toilet training in one day, and I think it is interesting. I have never tried using a doll that wets itself during the toilet training phase. I also agree that a lot of praise and acknowledgment is important.

We found that each of our children are very different, and what works for one may not work for another. My son trained easily and it seemed to happen in one day, but that was after I learned to back off a bit and let him decide when to go. My oldest daughter was not interested at all, and she refused to use the toilet for a long time. What finally worked for her was to use a sticker chart, which she found wonderful. She loved getting to pick out new stickers and add a cute sticker to the chart.

When did you toilet train your child(ren)? Do you have any tips for toilet training?

Potty Training Tips

I trained my first child when she had just turned 3. I think she was probably ready a little earlier but I hadn't potty trained before so I didn't really know what to look for. However, after talking to another mom (and learning lots of tips) I decided to give it a go... and she trained in one day (day and night).

My second child is a boy and he trained in about one day, but only for the daytime. Nighttime he continued to have accidents for about 3 weeks.

I can't remember about the others except that my 5th child seemed ready around 2 1/2 years, so earlier than the others.

I made it a practice to not try to potty train until 3 years of age or until they gave lots of signs that they were interested and ready. To me, trying to potty train too early only resulted in accidents and frustration. Plus, I found it easier to just keep them in a diaper or pull-ups when running errands rather than trying to find a bathroom (with other children in tow).

The way I potty train is to set up an area in the kitchen (on a hard floor surface that can be easily cleaned). I have lots of different kinds of juices (to keep their interest) and juice popsicles.

I placed a potty chair in the same room and put out puzzles or playdough or activities that they could do at the table. Then I let them run around with just a shirt on. This sets the scene for a child having to urinate within a short time (you don't want this to take hours). I'd tell them that as soon as they felt like they needed to go, that they should quickly to to the potty chair (or bathroom if you have one right off of your training area).

If they started to wet while playing, they'd usually let me know in some way, and I'd quickly help them to the potty chair where they could either finish or just sit for a moment. Then I'd clean up their mess without scolding and encourage them that the next time they needed to go, they should go on the potty chair.

Again - if they were ready, this worked great. If they weren't then I could tell within about an hour, and I'd just try again when they showed signs of readiness.

At night I had a nice, fabric mat that holds 6 cups of liquid. I would put this on their bed and I'd put a fresh change of clothes in easy reach for them. If they wet at night, they would just remove the wet mat and change into their dry clothes for the rest of the night.

Some children took longer to train at night than others but eventually they all trained in their own time, and having it so that they could change out of their wet clothes by themselves meant more sleep for mom

I have twin boys and I decided they were ready to be trained when they were just a little over two years old. If you notice I said that I thought they were ready to be potty trained. Needless to say I learned fairly quickly that it couldn't be done on my schedule I had to be patient and ready observe them so I would know when they were ready. I left their potty seats out so they could see them and sometimes we would take "teddy" to the toilet. I got some children's book about potty training that I read to them and shortly after their 3rd birthday we tried again.

I have learned that having twins does not mean they do everything the same. In fact, my boys are very different and potty training was no exception but they were both pretty well potty trained within a couple of weeks. We are still working on nights but their paediatrician said not to worry. So, for now I'm not I may actually try the fabric pad idea that you mentioned Kate. Where did you find one?

We did a small rewards system. Basically just a potty chart with stickers and provided a lot of clapping and encouragement I didn't need to use it for too long since they trained fairly quickly.

My husband and I begin training our oldest two (who are now four and six) when they showed interest, a little past the age of two years. I have a friend who has had two using the potty on their own by fourteen months, she used elimination communication (ec) with great success. I kind of want to try this with my youngest, but I am afraid she is too old to start now (11 months). Anyone else have experience with EC?

Kate ~ Thanks so much for the link and for letting me know how old your kids were when they stayed dry through the night. For some reason I had in my mind that they should have this accomplished by age 5 but as I said, their paeditrician told me not to worry that it all depends on their growth and bladder size
Thanks again!!!